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The cognitive resources available to the working memory system are finite. Under conditions of cognitive overload, a compromise may need to be made between the demands of storage and processing. Research suggests that the cognitive cost of partially automated transcription processes adversely affects written language production in children. Thus, children may be expected to perform the same task better orally than in writing. In order to determine whether this is the case in a Turkish context, three samples of participants, comprising 16 undergraduate students, 16 fifth‐grade and 16 third‐grade pupils, were required to perform oral and written serial recall of Turkish word lists. Recall mode did not interact significantly with age. In the adult sample, the combined samples of schoolchildren, and the fifth‐grade sample of children written recall was significantly better than oral recall. This may reflect the transparency of Turkish orthography and/or the age of the participating children. However, when the test was administered in English, no effect of modality was observed in children. This suggests that when the additional cognitive costs of processing a less automated language are combined with transcription costs, the resources available to children in working memory for the storage of information are depleted.